Comparison of sonic qualities of some tonearms

Others have already pointed this out and I may as well pile on:

The sound of the tonearm is highly conditioned on matching, to the cartridge and imho also to the table.

It’s trial and error. Better for many people to buy them from a dealer who has done the trialing and erroring for you and is selling them as a package, but best to take the time to do it yourself, you will learn more.

I have been using a Sumiko MMT with a VPI HW MK IV and two Koetsus, an Onyx and a Rosewood Signature, for several decades.

See

theaudioatticvinylsundays.com/about

for details of the rest of the system.

@mijostyn : " Those are huge benefits, not that you can ignore other aspects of tonearm design. "

In the example measurements of the SAT tonearm its maximum tracking erro is a " huge " 1.42° but only at one surface place, normally the tracking error is around 0.5° to -0.5°

What I said is that pivoted LT has no " huge " differences or beats the normal pivoted tonearms and both normally beats any LT tonearm in the bass range performance more or less in the same bass range where digital always is superior to the LP experience/alternative..

R.

asvjerry, That may be why the Vestigial tonearm, supplied by Transcriptors with their still futuristic turntables, lies in the dustbin of audio history.  The other reason is it was a terrible design.

Pindac, I was surprised not to see carbon fiber on your list of headshell materials to be evaluated.  In the right context (with medium to high compliance cartridges), I have had favorable experiences. Also, Ortofon and Yamamoto both make creditable wooden headshells that are not P'holz.

@rauliruegas 

Yes, the standard pivoted tonearm has a 1-1.5 degree tracking error.  The linear tracking tonearm that I have mounted (Reed 5A) has a 3-4 minute tracking error (which is 1/15-1/20 of a degree);  I don't know if it is this lower tracking error is responsible for the difference that I hear, but it seems reasonable that it could account for the improved soundstage that I hear when playing the LT tonearm.  

Did anyone ask @drbond what the goal is with another arm? Improvement over the Reed (which looks very nice)? A second arm for mono or a cartridge that likes to see higher mass?

If you want an amusing read, go find j.g. holt's original review of the Transcriptor's arm- it is a hoot to read and the back and forth with the manufacturer in the follow up comments to the review are equally funny.

I have no overarching view on the merits of various tonearms- since I'm not looking at specs, and have to hear them in situ. 

@mijostyn 's comment about the lack of bass from a conventional linear tracker is fair, but somehow, changing the cartridge-- Koetsu stone, adding subwoofers and readjusting the entire system to a new room gives me dimensional, very filled in bass that sounds natural on the lower registers with acoustic instruments- piano, double bass, etc. So, even that "truth" about the lack of bass in the conventional style linear tracker can be shaded by context and may be system-dependent in my experience.